Wells Fargo posted a record profit of $4.9 billion for the third quarter as mortgage lending picked up, but weaker-than-expected revenue left investors disappointed.

The nation's largest mortgage lender said it originated $139 billion of mortgages during the third quarter, up 6% from a year earlier, as record low interest rates drove homeowners to refinance. But the low rates also weighed on the interest income that Wells Fargo earns on its loans and MORE

Investors are making a bold gamble that the housing rebound will be steep and swift with the initial public offering of Realogy.

Realogy, which owns Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran and Sotheby's International Realty, raised more than $1 billion through its initial public offering that priced Wednesday night at $27 a share -- the high end of its estimated range. It's the third-largest IPO of the year behind Facebook (FB) and MORE

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The housing market has finally hit bottom. After years of false hope, that may seem hard to believe. But home sales are indeed rebounding. And prices nationwide climbed 2.5% in June.

Be careful, though, about how you invest in this nascent recovery. Homebuilder stocks have been surging for months MORE

Is the housing market really recovering? If you look at the latest results from Lowe's (LOW), you'd be tempted to answer no. But Lowe's top rival, Home Depot (HD) reported a pretty strong quarter and issued good guidance last week. Shares of Lowe's fell more than 4% in early trading Monday.

It seems that housing is slowly but surely rebounding. The problem with Lowe's seems to be that Home Depot is MORE

Trulia Inc., the company behind real estate website Trulia.com, filed for an initial public offering that is expected to raise as much as $75 million, though the company did not specify how many shares it plans to sell or how they will be priced.

Earlier in the summer, Trulia filed for a so-called confidential IPO thanks to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS Act, which was signed into law in April.

Will Netflix still be around in 2147? How about Facebook in 2154? Or Groupon in 2158? Probably not. Scores of companies, particularly in consumer tech, come and go. That makes the longevity of a business like railroad giant Union Pacific (UNP) all the more remarkable.

The company celebrated its 150th anniversary on July 1. President Lincoln apparently took time from his busy schedule of fighting vampires on July 1, 1862 to MORE